Autism on the Ice - Special Needs Hockey

In fall '09 the Brick Hockey Club started something very special, a hockey clinic for children with Special Needs.

I had hoped to enroll my son in the program, but he clearly stated that he wasn't interested. "Alex doesn't like sports. Only Bowling - and sometimes Baseball", he said. After discussing it with my husband - we agreed not to push it. Though we both agreed that the physical activity would be good for him - especially because of his low tone muscles - it didn't seem worth the fight. Surprisingly - my daughter who has vision issues - really wanted to learn to ice skate and try out hockey. She has loved it and looks forward to going week after week - the only girl and the littlest player on the team.

On a few occasions we asked Alex if he would like to come and watch. He was vehement that he didn't want to. Last week they started a new 6 week session and the night before he announced, "Can Wall-E Ice Skate?". I took this as a sign that he was interested in trying to skate - himself. I didn't push it but when he asked again this weekend, "Can Wall-E go ice skating?"... I knew he was interested. So, I asked if he wanted to go to ice skating and he said, "yes!". I told him he could just watch or he could skate if he wanted to. So, this morning.. up and early we got up and I layered him up with warm clothes and warned him that the rink is very cold. I half expected he would bow out along the way - but he didn't. We put Wall-E in the pocket of his vest so that Wall-E could go skating with him.

When we got to the rink he did seem anxious. He was circling a bit in the locker room (the freezer) as I got his sister ready. A teen who volunteers attempted to assist him with getting his gear on but Alex wasn't the most compliant. Once Belle was ready to go, I focused on him and got him started with getting the gear on. I then turned him over to the volunteers who got his knee/shin guards and skates on him - and we found a helmet that would fit his very large head.

They started him out sitting in a chair and then pushing a chair. But, that didn't last long - he saw his little sister was up and skating (scoring goals) and he stood up on his own from the chair and wanted to shoot some goals too. The volunteer took turns having him push a chair and also supporting him to help him skate upright. He was very floppy and fell quite a bit. By the end of the hour he was exhausted and actually laid down on the ice. They helped him skate over to the door and he told me. "I won!". He was very tired, and he cried a little bit, but then he was very happy and said he had fun skating - I think he was just sheer exhausted. Overall it was a very good experience for him and I am hopeful that we'll do it again next week and for the remainder of the program.

Information about Brick Hockey Club Special Needs Hockey can be found at http://www.brickhockeyclub.com

Photos & Video from 2/28/10 Special Needs Hockey

Alex skating with the help of a caring volunteer














Both of my kids practicing scoring (Belle is in the purple jersey)














Video of Alex pushing a chair - first time standing up on skates. As you can hear - the ice rink is a loud arena. I fully expected that between the sensory issues that the gear (helmet, pads, skates) and the noise that he would really struggle. Once again, he surprised me.



Video of Alex skating with the help of a volunteer. For his first time on skates, I have to hand it to him!



For comparison - here is my daughter who started the program in late November. She loves to use the hockey stick!



Related Links:
Brick Special Needs Ice Hockey League
Overcoming vision challenges
Amblyopia on Ice

Honey, I flushed the Android

February 28, 2010

Honey, I flushed the Android

It was a regular weekend morning. I was getting ready to shuttle my daughter over to the ice hockey rink and looking forward to stopping for a cup of hot coffee at the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru. As much as my daughter loves to ice skate - I find that hour and a half in the sub-zero ice palace almost torturous. While my daughter was yelling at me that "we were going to be late", I made a last minute decision that I better run to the bathroom. It went something like this:

Daughter: Mo--o-o-m we are going to be late for MY hockey. Will you hurry it up, Please!

Me: Just one second, Mommy is going to the bathroom and then we'll go.

Daughter: Go bathroom at hockey. They have a bathroom there you know.

Me: That bathroom is cold, I'll be just a minute.

And in that moment - it happened. My most prized possession, my Android phone jumped from the pocket of my favorite jeans and plummeted to its death. It was as if time stood still for that moment. Did my life-blood know as my cellphone really just fall into the toilet? In those seconds as I watched it sink, I didn't even think. I pushed the sleeve of my sweater up and I reached in and grabbed (thinking it was a good thing this happened before I actually relieved myself).

Of course, it was too late. The damage was done. My phone which was previously on...was lights off.

I ran downstairs and woke up my husband and then turned to Google. "Dropped phone in toilet" - yields approximately 6.5 million results complete with instructions on how to save a wet cell phone. My husband wasn't mad at me for dropping the phone in the potty (though he wasn't thrilled I woke him up for this). He put the phone in a bowl of rice and said "this is why we have insurance". I made the call and paid a $100 fee but got a new phone 2 days later via fed-ex.

In those 2 days before I received my replacement, I never felt so disconnected. I couldn't twitter, facebook, text, or get calls when I was out of the house. I stalked my google voice mailbox from my laptop to see what calls I was missing. I felt panicked that the school nurse would call to say there was a problem at my son's school and I would miss the call. The truth of the matter is, I felt like I was going through some kind of detox and I was out of my mind. I stress ate and drank more cups of coffee than is healthy. Those two long days without my phone were beyond stressful for me. Like so many of use these days, I made the realization just how much my phone keeps me connected and keeps my life in order - holding my calendar and appointments, all my contacts, email, my social life, and yes stress relief also.

.. And so it goes that we now have a new rule in our house.

From now on.. absolutely no electronics (cell phone, DS, ipod) are allowed in the bathroom!

New Jersey Moms Blog post by MaryTara. MT blogs her adventures in parenting on the Jersey Shore, life with autism & without it, the gluten & casein free diet, and vaccination choice issues at The Bon Bon Gazette and raising a child with amblyopia at Adventures in Amblyopia.

Bowling Fun, Hurdles and Highs

Well here we are at the close of another season of Challenger bowling for the kids. This is Alex's favorite "sport" brought to us by the Challenger athletic program. The kids really look forward to going to the bowling alley on Saturday mornings, eating snacks with friends, and bowling.


Things that never change:

• The french fries. Sometimes we are convinced the kids care more about their snacks than bowling itself.
  
• Alex always needs the green ball. Isabelle always needs the pink - even if she isn't officially on the roster and is just floating in to take a turn for an absent player - must be pink.
• 4 - The number of times on average that my son "fires" the loudspeaker announcer each week when they announce a birthday, high score, or other. If we could just get over the loudspeaker announcements, bowling would be a cakewalk.

Obligatory Kid Pics of receiving their trophies presented by Brick Township Mayor Acropolis.

Hello Kitty Waffles - Gluten and Casein Free!

Years ago my husband got me a Hello Kitty Waffle Maker that I loved and cherished. I used it a lot in the beginning but then put it up and away. The other day the kids were asking for waffles - and since I had a gluten free mix in my pantry I thought I'd pull it out. I did, only to find that it was broken. It was a sad sad day. My husband went out to Target to see if they had a new one in stock - but they didn't as it is an item they usually carry around the holidays. He went online and ordered me one, and I had a new one within days. Of course, that meant one thing - Breakfast for dinner! First, I made gluten and casein free Hello Kitty waffles for Alex using the Maple Grove Farms Gluten Free Pancake & Waffle Mix. You just add - oil, egg, and water to the mix and it makes pretty yummy waffles. Because the Hello Kitty waffler doesn't have a timer on it, you need to kind of play a guessing game on when they are done. If anything, I overcooked these a bit but Alex likes a crispier waffle and they are pretty thick so I wanted to make sure it was cooked all the way through. When done, I made up some non-gfcf Hello Kitty Waffles for the family.

Yummy and fun!

gluten-free hello kitty waffles








hello kitty waffles







Related links:
Hello Kitty Waffle Maker - Epinions.com

Gluten Free Pizza from Boston's

I recently went to Boston's for a much needed Mom's Night Out and found that they offered Gluten Free pizza! So, we headed there a few nights later as a family to give it a try. Alex loves pizza, so he was happy to order a gluten free pizza with sauce, no cheese, and grilled chicken. His individual pizza came to $7.88 and it was gone in about 5 minutes flat. The crust was really thin and crispy and he loved it. Typically he eats the pizza and leaves the crust, but this time he even ate the crust. Both my husband and I commented that it looked really good and if it wasn't so small we would have tried to sample a piece of it. Next time, we need to get him a larger size (the Small) since the kid can eat!

If you have a Boston's in your area, check them out for Gluten Free pizza. We did the "make your own" but they can make many of their signature pizzas on gluten free crust for a very small surcharge ($1.99 more)

Losing Spring Break because of The New Ice Age

February 16, 2010

Losing Spring Break because of The New Ice Age

The view out my front door as the snow came down last Tuesday had "doom" written all over it. By 6PM the Township had updated their facebook page to state that school was closed for Wednesday. Wednesday morning brought rain, that froze and turned to snow and then blizzard. Power flickered and trees went down. By dinner time, the facebook page for the Township indicated school was closed for Thursday as well. The natives became restless but the plows and salt trucks were doing the best job they can. Thursday afternoon came a robocall message stating that school would be on a 90 minute delay for Friday. But, once again the facebook page for the Township indicated that some schools were experiencing power issues. I knew in my gut that this meant one thing.

School could be closed on Friday.

And it was. The robocall came within the 5AM hour - school closed. No Valentines Parties for the kids, this year - well at least not until after they return back to school on Tuesday after Monday's day off for President's day.

Congratulations kids, you just earned yourself a six day weekend.

To say that the snow had made me feel trapped inside is an understatement. This was beginning to be reminiscent to Christmas week when the kids had three snow days in a row which gave them a total of two full weeks off from school for Holiday Recess not to mention missed holiday parties and activity after activity getting canceled. Thanks to being a procrastinator I wasn't one of the parents left wondering what to do with the dozens of party cupcakes and perishable teacher and bus driver gifts. The days off just gave me more time to get over to Dunkin Donuts for gift cards and Wawa for lottery scratch-off cards.

I remember as a child (in Upstate NY the land of snow) a snow closing was a rare thing and something to be celebrated. Here in New Jersey, my kids see snowflakes coming down and immediately presume No School Today. Nine out of ten times the kids are not wrong. A forecast of impending snow also means that the grocery stores practically run out of milk, bread, and toilet paper if you don't get there by noon. Also be sure to wear comfortable shoes because you could be parking across the street or in the next county because everyone is out filling their grocery carts and their pantries. Just where does one store all this extra milk, bread and toilet paper anyways?

I feel as if I might just lose my mind with the kids home one more day. The kids have missed so much school that the district has extended the school year as long as they possibly can late into June (I believe it is the 25th now, they end on). I guess that's one less week of summer camp I'll need to shell out for. And because they've extended it out as far as they can, beginning with Friday's snow day our kids will now start losing days from spring break. So far we've lost one day - how many more we'll lose will depend on if the Snowmageddon continues here at the Jersey Shore.

The forecast is projecting more snow for Monday, just in time for the kids to go back to school on Tuesday. Winter, I'm done with you.

New Jersey Moms Blog post by MaryTara. MT blogs her adventures in parenting two beautiful children on the Jersey Shore, life with autism & without it, the gluten & casein free diet, and vaccination choice issues at The Bon Bon Gazette and raising a child with amblyopia at Adventures in Amblyopia.

Happy Valentine's Day

Alex came home from school the other day (Tuesday - the only full day they had last week) with this valentine that he made for his sister.



















I don't know if they told him to make it for his sister, or if it was supposed to be for me (usually they have the kids make something for their mother!) I'm not complaining -I love that he made his valentine for his little sister. He does love her, when he isn't fighting with her.

I had made gluten and casein free rice krispie type treats with EnviroKidz Koala Crisp Cereal. But, because of snow days - the kids didn't have school on Friday nor their Valentine's party.

Related Links:
Happy Valentine's Day & Autism
Epinions Review of Glenny's Organic Brown Rice Chocolate Rice Marshmallow Treats

A Boy and his Nintendo DS [Autism]

Alex loves his Nintendo DS Lite. He bought it with saved up gift cards last Christmas/Birthday shortly after turning 8 years old. Now more than a year later he is still loving it - sometimes maybe too much. We've had to have a few talks about not bringing it to the dinner table and everyplace we go. It pretty much goes in the car with him most times we go out - and is a great occupier through otherwise tough waiting situations.

I love the photo above - he is so "in the zone". In this photo, he was at his sister's birthday party and the little kids were all running around playing games and listening to loud dance type music. An otherwise very difficult environment for him was completely avoided, he sat quietly and played without a complaint.


Related Links:
Epinions Review of Nintendo DS Lite Console
Epinions Review of Nintendo DS Headphones
Epinions Review of Naki G-Pak DS Organizer
Epinions Review of Nintendo DS Lite Car Charger

Kim Stagliano speaks out on CNN Re: Wakefield Autism/Vaccine Retraction

You know, its my daughter's birthday. If one more "helpful" friend points out to me the link on the Lancet article retraction - the Autism/Vaccine link being tossed out and Wakefield being lynched... Excuse me, but do you think I'm NOT following it all? I'm trying to enjoy my daughter's birthday but everywhere I turn I can't seem to get away from it.

My son has autism and his story is very similar to many other children also on the Autism spectrum. My son was very much a healthy and happy child for the first year of his life - until he went to a well visit and received a toxic cocktail of multiple vaccinations (including the experimental MMR-V a mercury containing vax, a flu shot, and others). That night he ended up in the hospital. The doctors said he had asthma. Over the following year he lost words and stopped meeting developmental milestones. We started early intervention to help him get caught up but he never did and he was ultimately diagnosed with Autism. I refused to let the doctors and schools write him off as just another number. Therapy, ABA, OT, PT, Speech, Behavior plans - it is all great and helps but I knew we needed to do more for him. A big giant red flag was the fact that in Kindergarten my son got sent home almost weekly. In fact, I originally began this blog as a place to rant against the school nurse who kept sending my son home.. day after day, week after week. My son was always getting sick. He would come home and then he wouldn't seem sick. I identified that the sickness usually correlated to things he ate.
I knew people who had put their autistic children on special diets and were seeing results - I knew it wasn't going to be easy and it would also be a financial challenge. I did it anyways - at first on a trial basis. We noted immediate changes when we eliminated milk and so we proceeded with eliminating gluten. We started supplements. Bit by bit, we watched our son make gains. Huge Gains. Not only was he no longer getting sick at school (aside from the usual seasonal stuff) he started to behave better and have less tantrums. He still has autism but he is a changed child.

Our story is not a fluke.

Vaccines hurt my child and biomedical interventions are helping him.

I want to share this link/video to someone who is a rock star and someone who I am honored to consider my friend :) Kim Stagliano - mother of 3 children with Autism. Kim blogs at Huffington Post and is the managing editor of Age of Autism

Happy Birthday Belle!

Happy 5th Birthday to Belle!

Brick SEPTA Spaghetti Dinner - GFCF Success!

I'm part of the Brick Special Ed PTA (SEPTA). We recently had a Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser which was a great success. Since many of the kids are one special diets (gluten and casein free) - we decided to also offer GFCF options for the dinner. We served pasta, marinara sauce, meatballs, salad, chicken - and also had gluten free pasta and the gluten free chicken. For dessert we had a cake and brownies, and GFCF chocolate cupcakes (made by yours truly).

The event was a huge success. We estimated ahead of time how much food to have - and I think we could have had even more gluten free/casein free food available since it went very quickly! So many parents came up to us (Board members) and thanked us for serving gluten free items.

As a parent of a child with a special diet, I know it is tough to get out to dinner and enjoy without a lot of preparation and bringing your own food. So, this was a treat for those families and it was truly a joy to see friends and our extended SEPTA family coming together to enjoy a meal.

GFCF Crazy Cake

We celebrated the kids birthdays jointly at Nana's house this year. Of course I made a GFCF cake for the kids to enjoy. Belle wanted cupcakes and Alex wanted a cake - so I made both. Half was decorated with an Ariel Candle and pink/purple cupcakes and the other half had a WALL-E Candle and green cupcakes. I put the cupcakes in footed cupcake holders that I received as a Christmas gift. The final product was very crazy looking but the kids loved it. I admit - it was fun to decorate with the kids.

The cake is the Namaste Chocolate Cake Mix - gluten and dairy free.

The frosting does have soy in it, and obviously a ton of sugar and dyes. We paid for it afterwards with the hyperactivity - but birthdays do only come once a year!












Happy Birthday Kiddos!!!

5 and 9 this year - I cannot believe it!!!